For Sale: Preston X3 Onbox & Shuttle

As the title suggests ... For Sale: Preston X3 Onbox & Shuttle
Both in excellent condition, owner is selling them together (not splitting) for £130
If you are interested comment on here or phone me and I will pass you on.

Sedges, Brick Lake, 24 June (16 pegs)

With sixteen fishing today on a very windy but, thankfully, dry Brick lake  it was decided that rather than face the agonising trauma of picking four pegs to leave out  all 20 pegs went into the very minging draw bag (it had spent the previous week in a bag with the equally minging weigh net) and let fate decide.
As it turned out, peg 1 was left in the bag which is a peg that often causes controversy as nobody ever wants to draw it but on the odd occasion that we've put it in it has done well.
I doubt if it would have produced today as the wind was blowing into peg 20 in the opposite corner where fate had decided to put Match Secretary and Club Chairman (me) who wasn't complaining to much!
Next door in peg 19, Bob Warren had decided to go for the skimmers as  there were good anglers in all the the carp pegs (his words not mine) which I found highly amusing!
As it happened, if you would have put a bet on the result you wouldn't have made much as the three corners that were in all framed. 
Peg 20 did the business for Steve Burgess (above left) who fished the pole straight out with meat at 11 meters for the first two hours which produced a run of decent skimmers (much to Bob's disgust) before plundering the corner margins with corn for a winning tally of 56lbs 14oz.
Mike Smith continued his run of form with a close second from peg 10.  Mike took two carp early on paste straight out at 14m before switching to 8mm pellet to weigh in 51-10.
Darren North took advantage of an empty peg 12 to take third spot with 49-15 from peg 11 fishing corn and worm (left over from his adventures in Holland last week) in his left & right margins and beating his boss (and idol) mugger Shanks into fourth place by just 9 ounces.
Alan Healy, who seems to have a knack of always going home with money, took top silvers from peg 4 with an impressive net of bream and skimmers totaling 35-8.  Alan caught at13m on soft pellet over wetted micro/ 4mm with green swim stim (presumably robbed from Dean Malin's bait stash).
Second in the silvers went to Bob Warren with 16-7 of skimmers from peg 19½ caught on soft pellet at 8m over micro feed.


Overall Result:

1. Steve Burgess (20) ..... 56-14
2. Mike Smith (10) ....... 51-10
3. Darren North (11) .... 49-15
4. Brian Shanks (13) .... 49-6
5. Alan Healy (3) .......... 35-8
6. Chris Gay (14) .......... 26-13
7. Bob Warren (19½) .... 23-9
8. Ron Hardiman (5) ..... 21-0
9. Steve Wynne (8) ....... 18-13
10.  Keith Ray (12) .......... 17-12
11. Pete Uzzell (9) ........... 13-13
12. Paul Reed (2) ............. 12-7
13. Simon Belcham (16) .. 11-4
14. Matt Williams* (18) ... dnw
15. Will Dearlove (3) ....... dnw
16. Rich Jones (7) ............ dnw 

*golden peg
 
Silvers:

1. Alan Healy ....... 35-8
2. Bob Warren ...... 16-7
3. Steve Burgess ... 14-7
4. Simon Belcham .. 11-4
5. Steve Wynne ...... 11-3
6. Ron Hardiman .... 10-9
7. Brian Shanks ...... 6-12
8. Pete Uzzell ......... 6-4
9. Paul Reed ........... 6-0
10. Mike Smith ......... 1-9
11.  

Trinity, Woodlands Lake, 17 June (12 pegs)

Didn't fish this one so not much info other than the weights ...

1. Mike Smith ........ 54-6
2. Pete Uzzell ......... 51-14
3. Dean Malin ........ 51-8
4. Alan Healy ......... 44-3
5. Kev Jefferies ...... 41-8
6. Paul Reed ........... 34-3
7. Adam Caswell .... 29-8
8. Matt Williams ..... 28-10
9. Mark Radford ..... 22-0
10. Chris Szakacs / Lionel Legge / Ryan Radford ... dnw

Silvers:

1. Dean Malin ...... 23-4
2. Kev Jefferies .... 12-8
3. Mark Radford ... 6-4
4. Matt Williams ... 6-0
5. Pete Uzzell ........ 4-8
6. Paul Reed .......... 4-0
7. Mike Smith ........ 2-13

Sedges this Sunday

Three places are left for Sedges this Sunday ... first come first served (don't all rush at once)!

Rood Ashton Pairs Match, 10 June (21 pegs)

A full house today with 21 fishing on a typically wet and miserable June day.   I suppose a few more could have been squeezed in around the back of the lake in the jungle but it would have meant some serious battling through the undergrowth and a day's fishing out of sight (and earshot) of anyone else which would be no fun.
For a bit of a change, seeing as we don't normally bother with a silvers payout, I thought I'd make this a one-off pairs match with £60 in the pot for the winning couple.  As it happened the winning couple came first and second which was a bit of a flook but at least it didn't take me long to work out the winners!
Owner's son Alan was on hand to collect the peg fees and (as on previous occasions) offered a £50 bonus for anyone who broke the venue record of 225 lbs(ish) and I'm sure I saw him have a little chuckle to himself as he drove off as, for what it was worth, he might just as well have offered a £50,000 bonus!
As it turned out it fished hard with only the usual fliers producing anything of note.  The car park bank was particularly difficult apart from peg one which is always good for a few fish due to the huge reed bed that stretches out in front of it providing a home for the lake's residents.  Things improved from the middle of the left bank and round to the back where the best pegs (and the bigger fish) are, although there were a couple of hiccups.  Most notably for Adam Caswell who has been firmly stamping his name on the Thursday evening Docks series of late, who could only manage 31lbs from end peg 21.
But at least it does go to show that it is possible not to win every match from that peg!
Winner on the day was Mike Smith on peg 20 (the concrete overflow).  Mike (pictured above right) fished paste and pellet at 6m for a total of 98lbs 4oz which even he couldn't moan about.

Next best, and Mike's pairs partner, was Chris Szakacs (left) on peg 15 with 68-10 of carp caught on a banjo feeder (not a method feeder) with banded pellet and groundbait fished about two thirds across towards the island.
Unusually, Chris opted to fish the full six hours which was just as well as Mark Radford finished just one fish behind him from peg 1. 
One-trick-pony Mark unsurprisingly  fished paste at 13m close to the reeds (and occasionally in them) for a total of 66-1.
Fourth place went to new member Pete Uzzell with 45-14 from peg 19 who also caught on paste at 9m straight out and to the overhanging bush on the left.
Finishing up the frame was another new member, Chris Mastrey on peg 13 who fished the method feeder into open water at about 30m loaded with 3mm pellet and alternated between banded pellet and a white mini boilie on the hook for 45-2 despite not having had a bite for two hours.
Poor Alan Healy had a bit of a nightmare in corner peg 9.  I've been told that this peg can be a flier when the wind is blowing in that direction (which it was) but not today as Alan was biteless for the best part of the match and despite a few fish turning up late he could only manage 18-4 costing him a "full house" of pound coins and another big dent in his collection which must be looking a bit sparse right now!

Overall result:

1. Mike Smith (20) ......... 98-4
2. Chris Szakacs (15) .......... 68-10
3. Mark Radford (1) ........... 66-1
4. Pete Uzzell (19) ............. 45-14
5. Chris Mastrey (13) ......... 45-2
6. Rich Britton (2) .............. 37-12
7. Steve Burgess (14) ......... 36-14
8. Brian Shanks (4) ............ 35-15
9. Rich Jones (18) .............. 32-2
10. Kev Jefferies (3) ............ 31-4
11. Adam Caswell (21) ........ 31-0
12. Lionel Legge (7) ............ 25-15
13. Darren North (17) .......... 25-1
14. Paul Reed (16) ............... 21-12
15. Derek Lucas (6) ............. 19-12
16. Alan Healy (9) ............... 18-4
17. Steve Wynne (5) ............ 14-9
18. Ron Hardiman (10) ........ 14-2
19. Simon Belcham (12) ...... 14-1
20. Keith Ray* / Ryan Radford .... dnw

*golden peg

Pairs:

1. Chris Szakacs / Mike Smith  (41)  166-14
2. Pete Uzzell / Adam Caswell (29)  76-14
3. Kev Jefferies / Rich Britton (28)  69-0
4. Chris Mastrey / Lionel Legge (27)  71-1
5. Mark Radford / Steve Wynne (24)  80-10
6. Steve Burgess / Derek Lucas (22)  56-10
7. Paul Reed  /  Rich Jones (21)  53-14
8. Keith Ray / Brian Shanks (16)  35-15
9. Darren North / Ron Hardiman (13)  39-3
10. Alan Healy / Simon Belcam (9)  32-5

There will be a meeting at the Midland Spinner tomorrow night (Tuesday 12th) where I will be taking bookings for Trinity (17th), Sedges (24th) and Avalon (July 1st).  Only 20 pegs on Sedges (brick lake) so this one could fill up quick but there should be plenty of room on the other two.

Viaduct, Cary, 03 June (15 pegs)

On the right day Cary can provide some excellent fishing and huge weights however it's not as consistent as Campbell and does seem to suffer from off-days when the fish aren't interested and unfortunately today seemed to be one of those days where the fish were reluctant to settle and no one method seemed to keep the fish coming.
Rich Britton, on peg 90, made the best of it and continued his winning ways starting off with the pellet waggler and later switching to straight lead with banded 8mm  for 72lbs 8oz.



Mike Smith on peg 80, although struggling to begin with, managed to string a few fish together fishing paste long up the edge of the spit for second with 64-2, just scraping ahead of Alan Healy on peg 94.  The Knowle West part-time pheasant beater opted for a "catch anything" approach with soft pellet on the hook which gave him third place with 62-4 which included 18-1 of silvers which was the best silvers weight of the day.
As a result Mark Radford made a rare appearance in the frame taking 4th overall (3rd by default) with a paste caught 59-8 from peg 97 and Will Dearlove completed the frame with 45-7 from peg 96 despite breaking a pole section and his new Airity landing net handle so I doubt his $20 winnings (sorry US laptop) made much impact on the cost of his day out!
On a lighter note, it was great to see Bob Warren back on the bank following his recent stroke. As expected he received no sympathy whatsoever from Tony Rixon in Shipham cafe or from anyone else for that matter!  He was offered the choice of a short walk to an early peg but chose instead to take his chances in the draw bag in search of silvers glory, but despite drawing peg 81 on the spit and getting a few pointers from silverfish guru, Mike Nicholls he could only manage a total of 14-4 including  8-3 of silvers for nowhere and no coin.  All being well though, he will soon be back on form and mugging his fellow pensioners at Acorn and Hunstrete.
And if anyone was wondering why in the picture Rich Britton isn't on peg 90 it's because I dug the picture up via google and it's a few years old from back in his Raglan days when he was only going a little bit thin on the top!

Overall Result:

1. Rich Britton (peg 90) ........ 72-8
2. Mike Smith (80) ............ 64-2
3. Alan Healy (94) ............. 62-4
4. Mark Radford (97) ......... 59-8
5. Will Dearlove (96) ......... 45-7
6. Steve Burgess (105) ....... 37-14
7. Adam Caswell (99) ........ 37-6
8. Paul Reed (85) ............... 16-7
9. Mike Welling (86) ......... 15-5
10. Bob Warren (81) ............ 14-4
11. Stewart Riddle (88) ........ 11-9
12. Ryan Radford (78) ......... 9-5
13. Darren North* / Keith Ray / Lionel Legge .... chucked back!

*golden peg

Silvers:

1. Alan Healy ....... 18-1
2. Stewart Riddle .... 11-9
3. Bob Warren ........ 8-3

Trinity, Woodlands Lake, 20 May (17 pegs)

With the weather having warmed up a bit of late Trinity is really starting to fish well on most methods, but in particular, pellet shallow and fishing the margins are the way to go.
And when it comes to fishing the pole shallow, there aren't many around that can compete with Brian Shanks.
Drawn on peg 11, and with empty pegs either side (Adam Caswell was on 10), the Westerleigh mugger fished 8mm banded / feed at 14m for a winning total of 108-10.
Rich Jones in peg 33 spent a token 10 minutes waving a shallow rig around before dropping into his left hand margin where he caught steadily all day to take second place with 86-14.  Rich caught mainly on corn over corn and 6mm meat feed.
Third place went to Darren North on peg 27 with 76-11 fishing pellet shallow at 14m followed by Ron Hardiman on peg 14 with 70-2.  Ron also caught shallow but had most of his fish on paste down the edge.
First out of the money (but well ahead of Alan Healy on the next peg) was Steve Burgess with 66-8 from peg 7.  Again Steve started the match fishing pellet shallow before switching to the right margin and catching on meat.
Top silvers went to Derek Lucas in peg 2 where, despite losing various rigs to trees and carp, managed 11-10 fishing caster close to the reeds.

Overall Result:

1. Brian Shanks (peg 11) ...... 110-9
2. Rich Jones (33) ........... 86-14
3. Darren North (27) ....... 76-11
4. Ron Hardiman (14) ...... 70-2
5. Steve Burgess (7) ........ 66-8
6. Alan Healy (8) ............. 57-2
7. Mike Smith (24) ........... 37-14
8. Mark Radford (25) ........ 34-9
9. Simon Belcham (20) ..... 30-0
10. Steve Wynne (19) ......... 22-6
11. Derek Lucas (2) ............ 17-4
12. Paul Reed (28) ............. 16-11
13. Adam Caswell / Mike Welling / Ryan Radford ... dnw
14. Mark Britton / Chris Szakacs ... early baths!

Silvers:

1. Derek Lucas ..... 11-10
2. Simon Belcham ..... 7-4
3. Steve Burgess ....... 7-2
4. Paul Reed ............. 6-4
5. Mark Radford ........ 5-0